Gophers Basketball – Page 149 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Tyus Jones Open to Early College Exit

Posted on October 23, 2013October 23, 2013 by David Shama

Debbie Jones, mother of Apple Valley senior point guard Tyus Jones, told Sports Headliners her son is open to playing only one year of college basketball. “If the opportunity presents itself, then absolutely,” Debbie said.

Leaving for the NBA after one season has been discussed with coaches recruiting Jones. The possibility of playing only as a freshman hasn’t deterred the biggest names in college coaching from pursuing Jones who is rated by Rivals.com as the No. 5 player in the nation for the prep class of 2014.

The final schools Jones is considering signing a Letter of Intent with are Baylor, Duke, Kansas and Minnesota. NCAA rules allow high school seniors to sign from November 13-20. There is a second signing period next spring from April 16-May 21.

Jones plans to sign with a school in November. An announcement regarding his college choice will come during the first or second week next month, according to his mom.

How the announcement will be done hasn’t been determined but Debbie said, “We’ll probably do something at the school (Apple Valley).” She indicated her son’s announcement is likely to happen at the same time as Jahlil Okafor’s. A well publicized pact between Jones and Okafor to attend college together is likely to remain in place. Okafor is a center from Chicago’s Whitney High School and is rated by Rivals.com as the No. 1 player nationally in the 2014 class.

Debbie said it’s “doubtful” her son and Okafor will choose separate schools, and acknowledged the Chicago superstar doesn’t have the Gophers on his final list of possible colleges. “If they go together to school that unfortunately would eliminate the Gophers,” Debbie said.

Okafor’s list of schools is reportedly Baylor, Duke and Kansas. He and Tyus visited Kansas together last weekend and over Labor Day weekend were at Baylor. Okafor is expected to join his friend at Duke this weekend.

Jones and his mom leave tomorrow for Duke, the last official visit the two will make in narrowing down the list of schools. On Saturday they will watch the Blue Devils in an exhibition game against Bowie State.

Tyus has been one of the most coveted athletes in Minnesota prep history. Debbie said the family is appreciative of all the attention but it will be a relief to end the selection process.

She also said there haven’t been any offers from schools that are in violation of NCAA rules. “I think people kind of know who we are. They know they’re dealing with people who don’t operate that way.”

Worth Noting

Debbie Jones’ youngest son, eighth grader Tre Jones, starts tryouts with the Apple Valley High School varsity on November 11. She said Tre will know after the first week of practice whether he made the team — as older brother Tyus did as an eighth grader.

The Timberwolves play the Sixers tonight who have a preseason roster that includes former Gophers Royce White and Rodney Williams. White leads the Sixers in personal fouls per game, 4.25. In five games he is averaging five points. Williams has played in one game for 19 minutes and didn’t score but had one block, rebound and assist.

Look for the Vikings to honor Cris Carter at their home game on November 7 against the Redskins. The former wide receiver was enshrined earlier this year in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Despite the combined dismal 1-10 record of the Vikings and Giants, their Monday night game was the most watched NFL telecast on ESPN in three weeks, according to a story yesterday on Sportsmediawatch.com.

Fans are welcome at the Gopher Gridiron Luncheon program starting at 11:30 a.m. on Friday at Jax Café in northeast Minneapolis. The program includes a Gophers coach and two players with Mike Grimm as emcee. More information is available at GoalLineClub.com. Membership in the Goal Line Club is not required to attend the luncheon which previews Minnesota’s game at home on Saturday against Nebraska.

A hockey source requesting anonymity told Sports Headliners that Wild owner Craig Leipold’s “patience” with coach Mike Yeo may not last more than a few more weeks. “They should be (playing) better than they are,” the source said earlier this week before the Wild defeated Nashville 2-0 last night.

The Wild is 4-3-3 in the first few weeks of the season. Not only is the win total disappointing but the team isn’t reaching its potential in creating “scoring chances,” the source said. The Wild had one goal last night until scoring on an empty net with 24 seconds remaining.

This is Yeo’s first NHL employment as a head coach and third season with the Wild. The team made the playoffs last season after a five year absence but the source suggested the Wild isn’t playing at last year’s level when the final record was a mediocre 26-19-2.

With a ho-hum start, the Wild has been behind the Vikings, Gophers football and even the Timberwolves (season hasn’t started) in generating local sports interest.

Sam Warning, the Gophers 21-year-old junior wing, is tied for the nation’s scoring lead in points with Kevin Roy from Northeastern. Warning has nine points in four games after scoring 23 last season in 29 games. He is the first Missouri native to ever play for the Gophers.

The Gophers men’s and women’s hockey teams are ranked No. 1 in the country in the USCHO.com polls.

Daydreaming about the Twins? What if the front office used some Target Field revenues to acquire Tigers stopper Max Scherzer who is expected to sign with another MLB team during the offseason. Scherzer in a Twins uniform gives the club a No. 1 starting pitcher and signing with Minnesota weakens Central Division rival Detroit. Thoughts of a starting staff in a few years of Scherzer as the No. 1 guy, Alex Meyer No. 2 and Kyle Gibson No. 3 is intriguing.

Yesterday’s announcement that Paul Molitor will join the coaching staff with responsibilities that include in-game strategy leaves Twins followers wondering just how “hot” Ron Gardenhire’s manager seat is.

Local business leaders Dave Mona and Susan Adams Loyd are volunteer co-chairs for the National Senior Games to be held at various Twin Cities venues during July of 2015. The National Senior Games is the largest multi-sport event in the world for adults 50 and over, and 12,000 athletes and 30,000 guests are expected to attend the 2015 gathering. Loyd competes in track and field events for seniors, while Mona’s sports interests include co-hosting WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle.”

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Owner: Wolves Have Title Aspirations

Posted on October 9, 2013October 9, 2013 by David Shama

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor was asked this week if he expects his team to end a 10-year absence from the playoffs next spring. The Wolves had playoff potential last season but injuries ruined their season and the club finished with a 31-51 record.

“When I talk to team members and coaches and all that, their expectation is they want to prepare to win the (NBA) championship,” Taylor told Sports Headliners. “They’re not just saying they want to make the playoffs. The expectation is how deeply can they go.”

The Wolves have a nucleus of three players who are among the best in the NBA at their positions, power forward Kevin Love, point guard Ricky Rubio and center Nikola Pekovic. But the optimism coming from Wolves training camp is also based on other players including offseason acquisitions Kevin Martin at shooting guard and small forward Corey Brewer.

New president of basketball operations Flip Saunders is responsible for those moves and others. His work has impressed Taylor who gives Saunders an “A” grade since being hired last spring.

“I had high expectations of Flip and he’s made all of them come true,” Taylor said. “His level of communications is excellent and I am very appreciative of all he’s done.

“In the personnel area we had talked previously about the type of personnel he wanted. He just moved on it very quickly and found the type of players the staff wanted.”

Saunders has more than 20 years of professional basketball experience. This is his second period of employment by Taylor and the Wolves, having worked here from 1995 – 2005, first as general manager and mostly head coach. Head coaching assignments with the Pistons and Wizards followed before Taylor brought him back to his organization.

Taylor describes his top basketball executive as a “unique” hire because of their previous relationship and all of Saunders’ skills. He said Saunders’ experiences after he left the Timberwolves of working for other teams and also a short period as an NBA analyst for ESPN “rounded out his understanding of the league.”

Taylor is projecting the Wolves will make money in 2013-14 for the first time in years. “It’s not like we’ll make a lot, probably $2 or $3 million,” Taylor said.

Taylor’s other basketball team, the Lynx, is in the WNBA Finals for the third time in three years. Last year the franchise earned a profit approaching $500,000, the first time the Lynx made money, Taylor said. This year the team could finish in the black and “approach” $1 million.

Taylor said the pending deal with the city and AEG Facilities to renovate Target Center for $100 million is taking “longer than anticipated” but he remains optimistic about it being completed. After the renovation he expects Target Center to be a better arena than “over 50 percent” of the other NBA venues.

Worth Noting

New Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman had differences with his Bucs coach, Greg Schiano. Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said, however, Freeman is excited about a “fresh start” here and believes the two will “co-exist.”

Although Freeman’s career performance has been inconsistent, he was reportedly wanted by multiple NFL teams. After being released last week by the Bucs, David Steele wrote the following on Sportingnews.com: “The rest of the NFL likely doesn’t feel about him the way the Bucs do. He’s done nothing to make the entire sport give up on him now, as it did on JaMarcus Russell.”

Rib injuries are slow to heal and whether Christian Ponder is healthy enough to be an option to start on Sunday against the Panthers isn’t known. But Matt Cassel seems the more likely starter with Ponder trying to heal and Freeman too unfamiliar with the offense to start.

Ponder may soon lose his starting job for the remainder of the season. “I am a man of faith,” Ponder said. “I believe that God’s got my future in his hands. I don’t know what that means. But I am trying to get healthy and I think ultimately it will make me a better quarterback.”

Is Ponder’s confidence shaken after being replaced two weeks ago by Cassel and now the acquisition of Freeman who has started 59 NFL games dating back to his rookie season in 2009? “In my eyes I am getting prepared to play,” Ponder said. “As long as I play well, then I am the one on the field.”

Vikings defensive end Kevin Williams is a team leader and is unsure what impact Freeman will have. “I don’t know, we’ll have to see. The management made a decision, we have to go with it.”

Williams, though, knows Freeman has talent. “He’s a first rounder for a reason. He has great potential. He just has to bring it to the table and shine.”

Tomorrow the Vikings are offering “No Service Fee Day” sponsored by U.S.Bank. Fees are waived for fans purchasing single game tickets through Ticketmaster.com.

Steve LaCroix, the Vikings vice president of sales and marketing, e-mailed that tickets remain for home games against the Redskins November 7, the Eagles December 15 and the Lions December 29.

The Vikings sold “just under” 8,000 new season tickets this year, according to LaCroix.

The SportingNews college basketball yearbook ranks the best coaches in each conference. Mick Cronin is No. 4 in the American Athletic, Shaka Smart No. 1 in the Atlantic 10 and Buzz Williams No. 1 in the Big East. All had their names prominently mentioned with the Gophers’ opening last March after Tubby Smith was dismissed.

Although the magazine said it was time for Smith to move on, he is rated the third best coach in the Big 12 where he now leads the Texas Tech program. The top five coaches in the Big Ten, according to the publication that predicted the Gophers will finish ninth in the conference, are Tom Izzo, Thad Matta, John Beilein, Bo Ryan and Tom Crean.

Timberwolves players Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio bought 500 tickets to give away for last night’s Lynx WNBA Finals Game at Target Center. The Lynx, with a 2-0 series lead in the best of five series, play the Dream on Thursday night in Duluth, Georgia with ESPN 2 televising the game starting at 7:30 p.m. Minneapolis time.

It might be an interesting meeting today for Gophers football coach Jerry Kill and athletic director Norwood Teague. The two normally meet at noon on Wednesdays, and Kill suffered a seizure last week preventing him from coaching the team on Saturday at Michigan. Although Kill has experienced multiple seizures since becoming the Gophers coach, last week was the first time he missed a game.

The Gophers 0-2 start in Big Ten games isn’t pretty and neither are their offensive and defensive numbers in conference games. Minnesota ranks 10^th in rushing offense and eighth in rushing defense. The Gophers are 11^th and eighth in passing offense and defense. Minnesota is tied for last in scoring offense and ranks eighth in scoring defense.

Matt Majka speaks to the CORES group on Thursday, November 14 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington. Majka is chief operating officer of Minnesota Sports and Entertainment, a company whose business interests include the Minnesota Wild. Reservations for the luncheon and program should be made by Monday, November 11. Anyone interested can contact Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.

The Wild, 0-1-1 against Winnipeg last season, play the Jets tomorrow night at Xcel Energy Center. Zach Parise has 23 points in 24 career games against the Jets, while Jason Pominville, has 23 in 27 games. Both Wild wings have played most of their NHL careers with other teams.

It’s a major disappointment for the Wild to have Charlie Coyle, the 21-year-old center with star potential, out three to four weeks with a sprained knee.

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Gophers Use Predictions for Motivation

Posted on October 4, 2013October 4, 2013 by David Shama

Andre Hollins calls it a “slap in the face.”

The Gophers’ best player is using predictions by college basketball writers that his team will be among the worst in the Big Ten Conference as motivation. “I think we can be a surprise team. …Nobody really knows what to expect, expecting us last. That’s the motivation that we’re using.”

Hollins, who led the Gophers in scoring last season at 14.6 points per game, is one of two returning starters from a team that finished 8-10 in Big Ten Conference games and 21-13 overall last season. He and Austin Hollins were starting guards last season but forwards Rodney Williams and Joe Coleman, and center Trevor Mbakwe, are no longer part of a Minnesota program with a new coach in 31-year-old Richard Pitino.

Basketball writers see a program in transition with changes in personnel and a new coaching staff. They forecast a challenging winter for the Gophers playing in the Big Ten, perhaps the nation’s best conference.

Andre Hollins said the Gophers, who have started fall practice preparing for their first exhibition game against Cardinal-Stritch at Williams Arena on November 1, are embracing the changes. “Much more energetic, enthusiastic. Just the whole program,” he said.

The team’s best players are likely to be the guards. The strategy could be to compensate for lack of size and talent in the frontcourt by playing wide open basketball — fast breaks, quick shots, full-court defense, double teams, and force turnovers.

The Gophers want opponents to panic and to do so Hollins is already seeing the importance of conditioning for himself and teammates. “We’re playing hard-nosed full-court defense an hour twenty minutes in practice,” he said. “I don’t think many teams do that in the nation.”

Hollins, a junior, has been known as an offensive player but when asked about personal goals for the season he said, “Be the best player I can be. Pick it up defensively. Be one of the best defending guards in the nation.”

Hollins said he improved his defense during the summer and made a comparison with how the Gophers will play defense this season versus last. While former coach Tubby Smith had players deny passes, the Gophers now will ease off on that so not to be vulnerable to backdoor cuts to the basket by opponents.

Hollins also said he’s learned to be more vocal, an attribute that will help him as one of three newly elected captains. Austin Hollins and guard Maverick Ahanmisi are the other captains.

Worth Noting

Forward Mo Walker, 6-10, has lost about 50 pounds and looks like a different person. Andre Hollins said Walker can now keep up with 6-11 center Elliott Eliason in running drills. Eliason is known for his ability to run up and down the court.

The Gophers haven’t set an October date when practice will be open to the public but plan to do so.

Pitino has converted the gym adjacent to his Bierman Building office into a practice facility. A wall has been constructed with power operated window shades to provide privacy. On the wall are video monitors showing images including of Minneapolis, the University campus and celebrities such as Ricky Rubio and Adrian Peterson.

The facility has a nearby locker room and showers. It is intended more for individual instruction, with the Gophers also using Williams Arena with its larger floor on practice days.

A passionate and knowledgeable Twins fan, disappointed with the decision to re-sign manager Ron Gardenhire for two more years, sent this e-mail to Sports Headliners: “After so many losses over the last three years, it’s hard to believe a change wasn’t made. Only in Minnesota do we accept such mediocrity on a consistent basis. I love Gardy as a person. It just seemed the right time to go in a different direction.

“What I find interesting is the Twins point to the A’s, Pirates and Rays and tell you a big payroll isn’t necessary to win. That may be true but then it’s an indictment of the team’s baseball operations department for failing to draft, sign and develop players that make an impact. If a team isn’t willing to spend money, then it better draft and develop well. Some of the Twins first-rounders like (Chris) Parmelee, (Trevor) Plouffe, (Aaron) Hicks and (Kyle) Gibson made it to the bigs but don’t appear to be impact players. Others, like (Denard) Span and (Ben) Revere, were traded before the start of the season.”

A guess is Gardenhire’s new deal pays him between $1.4 and $1.6 million annually. Baseballprospectus.com lists his two-year total compensation at $2.5 million for 2008-2009, but offers no figures more recent.

The Gophers (4-1) play at Michigan (4-0) tomorrow in a 2:30 p.m. ABC regionally televised game. The Gophers haven’t won in Ann Arbor since 2005 and have two victories in Michigan Stadium since 1980. The “Big House” has an official seating capacity of 109,901 but 115,109 saw the Wolverines defeat Notre Dame last month – the largest crowd ever to watch a college or pro football game.

Senior defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman said younger teammates might be somewhat “star-struck” playing against college football’s all-time winningest program in such a famous venue, but they need to know it’s “just a regular football game.”

Two years ago it wasn’t a regular game, as Michigan embarrassed Minnesota 58-0 in the “Big House” before 111,106 fans.

The Gophers average of only 27.4 penalty yards per game is the best among Big Ten teams. Coach Jerry Kill stresses in weekly meetings the importance of minimizing penalties.

“You wouldn’t want to be in here (the meeting room) after a ballgame and you were one who made a dumb penalty because it’s going to go up on that screen. That’s called the Daily News.” Kill said. “We all get educated through the Daily News and it helps because it’s not degrading anybody. This is why we didn’t score. This is why we kicked the field goal because we lined up wrong. So we’re gonna get that corrected. ‘Yes, sir.’ Okay, move on. So that’s kind of how we try to teach.”

The defensive secondary might be the Gophers’ top unit, comparing favorably with the best in the Big Ten. Safety Cedric Thompson thinks so and believes the unit is better than last year. “We’re a lot more physical, smarter and faster,” he said.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier didn’t want to tell his players that because of the team’s unexpected poor start and 1-3 record they had to spend part of their bye week at Winter Park working: “I think it’s important that our players get a chance to get away, take their minds off some things for a little bit and also…get re-engaged from a physical standpoint as well. So I think this is the right decision. We’ll come back on Monday, get started on the next opponent. …”

Vikings rookie wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson has turned heads with his kickoff return ability including a 105-yard touchdown return against the Bears last month. He is averaging 33.8 yards on 12 returns and was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for September. Frazier allows him freedom about making decisions about whether to return a kickoff or down the ball in the end zone for a touchback.

“Yeah, we do have a lot of trust in him for sure,” Frazier said. “We have some parameters on when he can bring it out and when he doesn’t, but it’s not by yards. We think he can return one 109 yards, 108 yards and he’s done 105 so we trust his judgment. We do have some things we talk about when it comes to where the ball is kicked when he has to not return it, but he’s made good decisions up to this point.”

It wasn’t complacency that ended St. Thomas’ 36 game regular season winning streak last month. “Gosh, no. No way,” coach Glenn Caruso told Sports Headliners yesterday. “We would not tolerate it.”

The Tommies lost 20-18 to St. John’s on September 21 and had a bye last weekend. Caruso was surprised how poorly his team played “at times” against the Johnnies, committing five turnovers after a focused week of practice. “It was a great reminder of how strong the rest of the conference has gotten,” he said.

The Tommies are home for a 1:10 p.m. game tomorrow against Carleton, another MIAC opponent. Caruso said the St. John’s loss doesn’t end the dream of playing later this year for the Division III national championship but the Tommies need to focus on the present each week.

State basketball legend Janet Karvonen, now 50, is finishing studies at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, according to the latest issue of MVP Magazine. Bob Brown wrote in his story for the southeast Minnesota sports publication that Karvonen plans to intern at Living Waters Lutheran Church in Lino Lakes. “It’s still a new thing for women to be ordained as pastors,” said Karvonen who grew up in the Lutheran church.

The Lynx open the WNBA Finals on Sunday night at Target Center against the Dream. Single game tickets start at $26.

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